Opera and music productions to be staged as part of the 2012/13 season have now been announced. Beginning in September with a revival of The Ring Cycle - which sold out on the first day of booking - the season features six new productions including stagings by Royal Opera directors Kasper Holten and John Fulljames. The season also includes celebrations of the Verdi and Wagner bicentenaries, as well as six operas screened internationally as part of the Royal Opera House Cinema season.

The Firework-Maker’s Daughter David Bruce
Co-commissioned by The Opera Group and ROH2, co-produced by The Opera Group and Opera North, in association with ROH2 and Watford Palace Theatre/Linbury Studio Theatre (London premiere)
Dir: John Fulljames Cond: TBC.
April

A stupid remark. A Meyerbeer is best performed complete is prteferable as it gives you what Meyerbeer intended you to hear and see. A cut performance seems longer and disjointed. Also a full performance last about three and a half hours with an interval or two, so it is no longer that a performance of Lohengrin.

sorry, you misunderstood me: that was a very tongue-in-cheek comment. I loathe cuts in French grand opera, musicians wouldn't do it for Wagner so why Meyerbeer. Or Halevy considering cuts made in la Juive a few years ago.

However much i love this house i have to point out that this is only sligtly more than a list of titles, by no means is this a full announcement. Why can't we have, for a house of this reputation and profile, a decent online brochure with all cast details and nice background, as well as a list of what of this season will also be relayed in cinemas, since this would be a good opportunity to also raise the profile of that activity.

We know there will be a full annual season guide available, but it would be more professional to have this published at the same time with the press announcement. I'd rather wait a while longer but have things done properly.

And for the furture you may also want to avoid friends booking days for the announcement. After all they will be among the main interested parties in these news and today there is too much going on. And it added to the stress on an already streched page and server, which was not very pleasant. Things like that should be kept apart so that they don't take away from the good news about the new season :-)

Hariclea is spot on - I can already see three or four performances I would like to see, but what's the cast? which ones will be broadcast to cinema? etc etc - contrast this announcement with the Met's new season, and it just looks so amateurish by comparison.

Hello all, thanks for the comments. Will talk to our team about getting more information out immediately, and our new web site which is coming soon will also hopefully make things much more clear and accessible. In the meantime, the press release is here: http://www.roh.org.uk/pressandmedia/pressreleases.aspx
It has some casting info, and it lists the cinema titles (Troyens, La Boheme, Eugene Onegin, Nabucco, Donna del Lago and Gloriana). I hope - despite the lack of info available today - that you think the programme is an interesting mix. All best, Kasper Holten (Director of Opera)

Looks like a superb season - very well done ROH.
So many exciting evenings and great castings.
I sometimes think some of the critics are just critical for the sake of it - I thought the recent Nozze di Figaro was a perfect example - fantastic cast - outstanding Figaro - superb balance from Sir Antonio and yet needless comments from some! Let's praise ROH it is a world leader.
Well done everyone.

Thanks very much ROH&KH for the prompt response and the details, scrumptious! Happy to say once again i wouldn't want to be in any other place than London, still the best season out there :-)
Crossing fingers for the new site to work well and do let us test it for your before rolling it out :-)) I'm sure plenty of us will be happy to lend a hand:-)

and when, if we are truly a great international house, will we be allowed to see a complete Wagner performance from Nina Stemme again? preferably as Brunnhilde. I am sure Susan Bullock will be good, and it is excellent to nurture British singers, but although I retain an open mind until the autumn, I doubt she will ever be one of the true greats. Stemme's Isolde here and earlier at Glyndebourne and her Elizabeth in Paris last year demonstrate that she is, and the reviews of her Brunnhildes round the world suggest her Brunnhilde is in the same class. Or can't we afford her?

It's scandalous that the great Renee Fleming appears in only two performances next season given that she hasn't appeared at all this season at Covent Garden. Other opera houses that are arguably less highly regarded in terms of artistic and musical standards in Paris and Vienna, seem to have no trouble in engaging her for several performances of a major role season after season. London is the music capital of the world and deserves to see more of Renee Fleming, especially at Covent Garden.

Looking forward to Roland Villazon (La Boheme) Jonas Kaufman (Don Carlo) and various Simon Keenlyside. However, never taken to Roberto Allagna and refer to OPera Now of L'elisir D'more whch I saw on holiday with Gardar Thor Cortes (Opera Now review said "The Ideal Nemorino with an Italianate timbre) Why haven't we seen him yet ? Apparently doing La Boheme shortly in Reykjavik

On the contrary, I am getting tired of the Don Carlo with Kaufmann, he has been doing it a lot. Whereas I am more interested in the L'Elisir with Alagna, who hasn't sung Nemorino in a very long time; though I would have preferred seeing Alagna in Les Troyens, he is so good in French opera.

Surprised to see Roberto Aronica is singing two performances of Don Carlos. Saw him sing Pinkerton at Teatro Massimo, Palermo last month (just went to see the theatre if truth be told) and he sang fortissimo the whole time; real 'can belto' school. Audience loved him, but then they also loved Daniella Desi who was truly dreadful.

ring cycle. Same cast. Same terrible Simon o Neil. Just can't believe roh cast him again after the first time he sang like a duck. Can't they find a proper cast and hopefully a better one than this. Its sold out so I don't think money would be a problem.
The rest seem nice programing. But lack of innovation. Too many Italians. Boring boring...especially with Angela geoegchiu in la rondine. Ohhjj so vanilla...

Except that Angela Gheorghiu won't sing many performances... she'll cry off with a cracked nail or some such excuse. Four times she's been billed to sing at a production I've booked tickets for - four times I've seen a different soprano in the role (usually, IMHO, an improvement). I don't know why ROH bother to book her, as she's so unreliable. No wonder they've got another soprano to split the roles - but I bet Miss Jaho ends up doing the majority of the performances...

I look forward to the Bach ROH2 event, Meyerbeer, Strauss, Britten, and the newcomers, but think it a shame there will only be one baroque ticket this year! After the blissful musicality of Niobe and La Isola Disabitata over the past 2 years, it seems a shame you're devoting Covent Garden to all this schmaltzy middle-of-the-road latterday Italiana.

I am beyond excitement with the inclusion of La Rondine. One particular aria from the opera is my mum's favourite, and I have been waiting years for a production. Look forward to hearing of when tickets are available to book.

Gosh - how strikingly dull. Some tired old productions of Flute, la Boheme and Tosca; revivals of works that no-one wants to see like Minotaur; but only a few genuinely new things. Sadly, the ENO selection is just as dull next season too...

Agree with Damian about the dullness of the ROH 2012/13 season but do you really consider the ENO selection 'dull'? Operas by Martinu, Handel, Vaughan Williams and Charpentier. Challenging productions of classics by Peter Konwitschny and Calixto Bieito - the sort of directors never employed by the ROH in case it upsets the sponsers. None of it strikes me as 'dull'. Sorry.

I have been a little harsh on ENO - I think it was seeing one half of their program (Carmen, La traviata, Mikado - again!! - Don Giovanni, The Barber, Magic Flute) rather than noticing the good things. I'll certainly look forward to Julius Caesar, Julietta and Medea at the Colly though.
Odd how both ENO and ROH are putting on Magic Flute next year. It's a bit like all the London choirs deciding to do Messiah in the same season - very poor planning.

Albert Herring! My very first experience of opera and something I haven't seen in 35 years. Can't wait until October, in the vain hope that the first flush of youth will return with the opening bars (although I suspect it won't!!)

Spring booking opens for Supporting Friends on Friday 23 November. We are currently modelling how we display the booking days and they will appear more prominently on the website in the not too distant future.

I can't understand why so many people at ROH performances find it necessary to cough out loud at such inopportune moments? It's inconsiderate to both singers and other audience members especially when it is perfectly possible to muffle a cough with a handkerchief or scarf rather than barking down the back of someones neck. If the RO can make announcements about switching off mobile phones they should include a request to suppress coughing, like they do at RFH. It can ruin an aria and puts one off wanting to attend live perfomances.

Ladies/ Sirs
As a foreign visitor I consider to go to the CG Opera House on Novenber 21nd. Would you please tell me what the fairly smart title "Mixed Concerto" is covering - some singing and/or some ballet dancing? And especially what kind of music?
Thanks in advance.

I intend travelling all the way from South Africa in July to see La Rondine & Tosca. Can anybody tell me whether they will be traditional productions? What I mean is that there is a trend these days in Europe to produce operas in modernistic, minimal or vulgar style. If so, I'll have to reconsider.

Totally agree. The new Met season shows what can be done as does the WNO - at last. At least we have Pape in Parsifal. There may be a few nuggets in the new season but it's swings and roundabouts. Might have to wait a few years for ROH to become interesting again and remember that basically it is in showbiz.

Can you please explain the appalling lack of ticket availability for the Friends March booking period. There were no tickets available for Britten's canticles and extremely limited choices for Capriccio and La rondine despite my booking on the dot of 10 am. What is the value in being a Friend if a reasonable choice of tickets are not held back for us?

We are delighted that our website was able to accommodate the extremely high number of bookers online for the Friends summer on-sale days yesterday and today. We understand that some people may have been disappointed not to get tickets for popular productions or productions in the Linbury Studio Theatre in particular due to its smaller capcity.

The capacity of our online sales is increased and as such productions can sell out very quickly. Please note a small number of tickets will be made available at the time of public booking on 9 April. We always recommend visiting our website at regular intervals as tickets do get returned. Thank you for your support.

Why can't you get just the summer season's productions up from the calandar? Trying to work out what to book is a nightmare as you have to disentangle what is to come from what has already been and what belongs to the Spring season but hasn't happened yet. With the old website it was easy. This one is very user unfriendly